I've been offered a great deal on a new bike, 33 percent off, but it is an awful color - Tennessee Vols orange, which I think looks terrible.

Is it worth it to take the deal even if everytime you look at the bike you think, "man, that's an ugly bike?"

Do you think the color would grow on you?

You could always paint it. If it's really that good of a deal, you could easily get a nice custom paint job and still be ahead on the package.

Bike color is VERY IMPORTANT -- if you don't want your wife or significant other to know that you have bought a new bike.

My main road bike is black. A few years ago, I decided to buy a cross bike for commuting. My wife had been complaining about some bike-related purchases, but I was able to get a good, end of the season deal on a black cross bike. I bought it and did not say anything. It was several months before my wife noticed that there were TWO BLACK BIKES in the house. By that time, she was well past complaining about the bike-related purchases and just shrugged her shoulders.

BTW: The original rant about bike purchases was caused by my wife's paging through a Colorado Cyclist or WCP catalogue and then counting the Assos gear that I had in the laundry. It taught me two lessons: don't leave catalogues around the house and do your own bike laundry.

I won't ride/buy an ugly bike. That said, my bike is half orange:)

Do you think the color would grow on you?

Ultimately, only you can know for sure, but for me, if I don't like the color, I will think of it everytime I get on it. I know that is how it was with my car. I got a silver one because there were no blues offered that year. The next year, the blue came out and I traded. (there were other reasons in addition to color, but color was a huge part of it).

Don't buy a bike you're not absolutely in love with the looks of. A deal's a deal, but is it really? We all spend enough on bikes that we need to find one we're nuts about; hopefully, you'll be looking at the thing for years, so why go through years of "...but I got a good deal on it." Would you marry an ugly woman? (Don't answer that! haha)

Frame color is very important. If you're looking for speed, get red. If you don't want to be seen, get black.

especially at night!!

rumor has it green bikes don't win world championships

Heck, if I can get over riding T-Mobile Magenta (not pink), I dont think orange would be too bad. I actually like the color now, easy to find at the triathlon bike rack.

Did Antiquel never win the rainbow jersey?

What the heck is "Tennessee Vols orange" anyway??? I'm intrigued. Then again, I've always been conceptually attracted to the idea of an orange bike.

I think there's a big difference between an ugly colored bike, and an ugly bike. I could easily get used to a Sachs, Kirk, or Vanilla with a Joe Bell paintjob even if it was Dog Penis Pink with Exorcist Pea-Soup Vomit Green panels and pinstriping.

Whereas a bike like a Schwinn Peleton would be ugly even if it were painted with live naked women and trimmed in real 100 dollar bills.

Ha! I know what Vols orange looks like, and though I hadn't thought about it, that's pretty close to the color I had my commuter painted this spring. On the other hand, it isn't a frame that I care that much about, and I actually like orange.

If you *really* hate the color, I'd skip it.

Why don't you become a Tennessee Vols fan? That will solve the problem.

It's a scientific fact that my gorgeous blue Gios is 5% faster due to its smashing good looks.

...try this test.....might help !?! :D

Color Compatibility Test (http://www.selfnetwork.com/flash/colormate.asp?testnum=118)

Think about it this way...

Maybe others will think its a hideous color as well and therefore your bike would least likely to get stolen.

I just don't see the problem here. I've ridden my Atlantis 6000 miles wishing it were orange, and you're griping because some bike you don't even have ISN'T?
More to the point, my least favorite color for all kinds of rolling stock, for reasons I can't begin to explain, is blue--but three of my five bikes are blue, because that's the color that was in stock or on sale when I bought them. I don't think about it at all when I'm riding. But my Rambouillet is orange, and I admire that every time I walk past it.

On a strictly pragmatic note, the orange should be quite visible in traffic.

In all honesty, however, the only nice orange bikes I've seen are the Colnagos ridden by Rabobank.

If the deal is that good, ask yourself if you've grown to like things in the past that did not initially appeal to you.

FYI - The T-Vols had a great women's softball team this past season (and one fine eye candy from Cali). Unfortunately, they couldn't close the deal and lost the college world series.

(Before anyone slags me for watching college women's softball, why would I want to spend my down time watching a bunch of overpaid pituitary cases a la the NBA playoffs...?)

It's a very practical color, especially here in TN. There's a good reason they chose that color, primarily for the fans. A TN Vols fan can wear the orange shirt to the game on Saturday, deer hunting on Sunday, and to his/her work release/community service program on Monday. Same shirt, 3 days per week.

Celeste bikes have one or two wins under their belts. But I guess that it's technically sky blue or some such nonesense...

Back in '81, I wasn't a big fan of the color when I bought my Bianchi, but I was told that it was "The" color to have.

I bought my LeMond because it was a great steel bike, regardless of the hidious silver with ORANGE panels and lettering everywhere. So I put nice green Pave's on it and just laughed while I rode. The road bike equivalent of the circus "Clown Car".

But I built my Colnago to be pretty, at least to my eye...

Utmost importance!

I won't ride a bike unless I think it looks good! haha.

I love my orange bike...

http://members.shaw.ca/feynn/biking/69Peugeot1.jpg

P.S.

Orange bikes go the fastest.

P.S.

Orange bikes go the fastest.

They certainly did for the dude whose name is on this bike.

Even if you did decided to buy it, the fact that you always thought it was ugly will always haunt you. I have a orange orbea orca.

Well,,, if it's orange,, you could make t up like General Lee!
Your wife could be Daisy

They certainly did for the dude whose name is on this bike.
youbeat me to it.

Good enough for EM well good enough for me.

BUT if not for you, leave it on the shop floor. Aesthetics matter and this is a case where you get to decide.

By that time, she was well past complaining about the bike-related purchases and just shrugged her shoulders.

You ought to know, it was not dismissed - it's just in inventory for future use.:D

You ought to know, it was not dismissed - it's just in inventory for future use.:D

Ain't that the truth! :yikes:

rumor has it green bikes don't win world championships
they win the Giro though.:thumbsup:

It's a very practical color, especially here in TN. There's a good reason they chose that color, primarily for the fans. A TN Vols fan can wear the orange shirt to the game on Saturday, deer hunting on Sunday, and to his/her work release/community service program on Monday. Same shirt, 3 days per week.

LOL

I grew up in West Knoxville.

I've been offered a great deal on a new bike, 33 percent off, but it is an awful color - Tennessee Vols orange, which I think looks terrible.

Is it worth it to take the deal even if everytime you look at the bike you think, "man, that's an ugly bike?"

Do you think the color would grow on you?

I like orange, despite my toxic levels of exposure while growing up in Knoxville. But I wouldn't buy a bike if I hated the color deeply.

The question is whether you *hate* the color or just find it less than attractive. If the color is just "less than attractive" then you might get used to it.

Do you know the words to "Rocky Top"? What happens when you hum that tune? Do you find yourself on the floor with dry heaves? In that case, I would avoid the purchase.

In most cases, I actually like orange. This is just a very odd shade of orange. The white lettering is almost hard to distinguish against the orange.

Also, one of my degrees is from the University of Georgia, so I have a bit of a distaste for Tennessee orange.

As for Rocky Top, I don't know the words. In the last 10 years, I think I have only heard th spoof version - Rotten Crotch, you'll always be, third in the SEC.

I was talking to John at Waterford before I bought my bike and he said the longest discussions he ever has with people about their bike before they buy is about color. You'll look at it every time you ride it, so you better like it.

Of course, that depends on how big an issue the money is, or how much you care about color.

That said, the previous Orbeas with Euskatel orange looked great.

As for Rocky Top, I don't know the words. .

One New Year's, my family decided to go to new Orleans. It was the night before the Sugar Bowl, and the Vols were playing. That's allll we heard, alll night long.

Whereas a bike like a Schwinn Peleton would be ugly even if it were painted with live naked women and trimmed in real 100 dollar bills.

Hey there! :mad:

Give me the live naked women and $100 bills and I'll tack them to my brand new Peloton and prove you wrong (as long as they will wash off later because I happen to think the bike is gorgeous).

I had the same dilema last year. The lbs had a Pinarello Paris Carbon. It was one of 3 frames the shop owner got from the Pinarello factory that were done up for a local race that never got used.

He offered it to me at about 40% off. Now, I don't mind a black frame but Pinarello has some nice painted frames (to my mind) and I think they look better than this one.

In the end I took the frame with the discount. I still don't like the plainess of the all black but I love the bike. And I just gell myself, every ride, that at most only 2 other people in the world have the identical frame from Giovanni himself!

If you like the bike and are short of money...buy it even if it is orange.